


Looking Forwards

by WorryinglyInnocent



Series: Bouncers and Shakers [5]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: A Monthly Rumbelling, Bouncers and Shakers, F/M, NSFW, PWP, Rumbelle - Freeform, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-09
Updated: 2018-09-09
Packaged: 2019-07-10 07:36:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15944753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WorryinglyInnocent/pseuds/WorryinglyInnocent
Summary: Belle can see the grime where others see only glitter, and it is hard to spend one’s days in a place that no longer presents any kind of veneer.Continuing theBouncers and Shakersseries. At a turning point in their lives, Belle and Gold are finally looking forward to a brighter future away from the club.Written for the @a-monthly-rumbelling prompt: “Noise, Misunderstanding, Healing, Hickeys, Make-Up”





	Looking Forwards

 

It’s a fairly standard night at the club. The music is thumping, the patrons are drinking, and the girls are stripping and dancing. Belle grabs a handful of ice from the box and wraps it in paper, holding it against her neck as it begins to melt. It’s always stifling behind the bar, with the heat of the lights and so many bodies packed in tightly in varying states of undress.

“Belle, poppet.”

Jefferson’s voice is always audible against the noise of the club; Belle has become attuned to its timbre by now. She turns to see that he has a rather worried look on his face, and Belle’s brow furrows.

“What is it, Jeff?”

He gestures discreetly to his neck and Belle glances in the mirror behind the bar, looking between the bottles of spirits at her smeared reflection. Then she sees what has caught Jefferson’s eye. The wet from the ice has made the concealer she slathered on at the start of the evening run, and it’s exposed the two dark hickeys on her neck. She feels her face flush with the memory of receiving them earlier in the day, sprawled in bed, Gold’s warm weight covering her and keeping her safe from the world.

“Are you all right?” Jefferson presses. Belle wonders why he’s so concerned until she realises that these marks of love could be misconstrued as those of violence. They both know that Gold would never lay a hand on her, but if she’s been hurt by persons unknown then both he and Jefferson would stop at nothing to see justice served. She nods.

“I’m fine. Just love bites.”

“Oh.” Jefferson looks rather sheepish at the misunderstanding. “Oh. Yes.”

Things are a little awkward for a while, but then the brief lull in service is over with patrons queuing up to buy drinks in between sets, and by the time they have space to breathe again, it’s all over and forgotten about.

“That does remind me, though,” Jefferson begins again, continuing the paused conversation that they hadn’t actually had out loud. “I haven’t seen Gold tonight. What have you done with him?”

“He’s all right; he’s got the night off. He had to go and sign some paperwork about the cottage today.”

Although his aunts passed away a couple of years ago now, it’s been hard to sell up the little cottage where Gold grew up. Now they finally have a buyer, and Gold has gone to sign and seal the paperwork before the opportunity slips through their fingers. Finally selling the cottage will be good for them, Belle thinks, and she’s cautiously optimistic about their future. With the cottage no longer in the back of his mind, Gold can finally move on in the healing process and let go of some of the grief that he feels for the women who raised him. On a slightly less altruistic note, they could use the cash injection. It might be that final push that they need to get them out of this godforsaken club and back into the daylight world that they left behind so long ago. Belle’s been looking at jobs elsewhere, at everything under the sun as long as it gets her out of this place.

It’s long since lost its shine for her, if it had even had any to start with. A guest coming in for the first time might be impressed at the plush carpets and leather seats, but Belle knows how sticky those carpets are and what kind of stains the club lights hide. There’s a reason they don’t use UV.

Belle can see the grime where others see only glitter, and it is hard to spend one’s days in a place that no longer presents any kind of veneer.

Soon, though. Soon there will be an end to the desperation that she feels every time she leaves the club in the small hours knowing that she’s doomed to return and repeat the same mind-numbing cycle ad nauseum until something happens to change her fortunes.

There’s always a sense of relief when her shift ends, when the club empties and silence resounds, ringing in her ears as her own voice sounds fuzzy and muffled in her head. It’s over and she can hear herself think again, can breathe freely again. Hope comes easier when there is no-one around to shatter her illusions.

Jefferson walks her home to the apartment she shares with Gold and says his goodbyes on the doorstep to the building. Belle moves around as quietly as she can, but when she nearly trips over her own handbag whilst trying to navigate the bedroom in the dark, she knows that not waking Gold is a lost cause. He switches on the reading lamp and gives her a sleepy smile.

“Hey.”

“Hey. How was it?”

Gold nods. “All done. All over now.”

“I’m glad.” Belle smiles. “That’s it now. One chapter has finished, and a new one can begin.”

She goes into the bathroom to wash off her make-up and brush her teeth, and she spots the hickeys on her neck in the mirror again. She smiles at the memory of Jefferson’s concern and she’s still smiling when she comes back into the bedroom, changing out of her work outfit into baggy pyjamas. Gold raises an eyebrow when he sees her expression.

“What’s with the secretive little grin?” he asks.

“Oh, just a misunderstanding with Jeff. He thought that someone had been at my throat.”

She slips into bed and puts out the light.

“I have been at your throat,” Gold says. “Just not perhaps in the same way as Jefferson’s thinking.” His lips find her neck and he mimes eating her, and Belle giggles as she bats him away.

For a while they just lie there in each other’s arms, enjoying the closeness. Belle plays with Gold’s hair, wrapping the silvery strands around her fingers.

“You could use a trim,” she says absently.

“You’re right. Maybe I’ll cut it all off. It’s time for a change around, I think.”

Belle wrinkles her nose. “You’d look strange with short hair.”

He is right though. It is time for a change. With the good things that have started happening in their lives recently, they want to take advantage of the upswing as much as they can. This is their moment and they have to grasp it with both hands, haircuts and all.

No more is said on the subject, though. Belle feels Gold’s hands begin to wander down her back, dipping under the waistband of her pyjama pants to cup her ass. As she presses up against him, she can feel the first stirrings of his erection and she kisses him gently, then harder and harder until he gives in and flops onto his back, letting her straddle him. She pushes her pants down a little way, just enough to allow him unfettered access to her folds, and his fingertips dance over her mound and dip into her cleft. Belle wriggles her hips. They’re both tired and they don’t want to take their time; Belle knows she’d probably fall asleep if Gold were to go down on her now. All the same, they both need this release. Although on the face of it nothing astronomical has occurred, this is a momentous day for them as it could mean the start of the rest of their lives. Anyone would feel the need to release some pressure at the thought of it.

Belle grinds up against Gold’s hand, a soft moan escaping her lips as his thumb brushes her clit in just the right way. There’s always something a little otherworldly about making love in the dark and dead of night like this. It’s as if they’re the only ones in the world and the night was created just for them. Everything condenses down into this one moment in this one bed, and all of the stresses and strains of their lives cease to exist for a little while. This precious time is just for them and for each other; there is nothing else to intrude on them.

Gold pushes a finger up inside her and Belle cries out, a breathy sound that’s halfway between a groan and a gasp. With his touch both inside and out, it doesn’t take long for her to tumble over that peak and fall into blissful ecstasy.

Gold’s hand finds her cheek through the curtain of her hair and touches gently. As she comes back to herself, Belle interlaces her fingers with his, leaning into the warmth of his touch.

“I love you,” she whispers.

“I love you too.”

They stay like that for a few more moments, just drinking each other in, and then Belle shifts her weight, tugging down Gold’s pyjama pants to find his eager cock. She gives his length a couple of firm strokes, his head lolling back and his eyes falling closed. It’s perfection as she sinks down onto him and rocks her hips, his own bucking up to meet her. They don’t need any words when they’re like this, not anymore. They’re so in tune with each other now, aware of every inch of each other, both physical and mental. Belle’s always been a firm believer in the notion of soulmates and she’s certain that she and Gold fall into that category. Gold is more cynical, but even he admits that the thing they have together is wonderful and indescribable in its intensity. Although there have been no proposals or grand declarations, Belle knows that they are completely committed to each other now. They are in it for the long haul, together forever.

Gold comes with her name on his lips and she flops down beside him, welcoming his arms around her once more. Normally sleep would be quick to come in such circumstances, but Belle finds herself lying awake for a long time, slumber only finding her as the morning sun creeps around the edge of the blinds.

The dawn is breaking on a new day, a better day, when they can finally look forward to a better life and heal from the bad hand that fate has dealt them so far.


End file.
